Hello All,

Recently renovated our family room and installed speaker wire to all
four corners for eventual surround sound. I have the levitron speaker
posts/wall plates on the end locations that use one black and one red
post for a speaker wire pair. All four wire pairs go back to a single
gang box that also has one coax and one ethernet cable installed in it.

Planned on using a six-gang levitron wall plate, two for the coax and
ethernet and four for the speaker wire, but seems like each speaker
wire needs two posts, for a total of eight posts. I can't seem to find
a single speaker post that will accept both speaker wires (pos and
neg), and nobody makes a 10 gang wall plate (not enough room).

I was just hoping to find a clean wall plate solution and not leave the
gang box uncovered with wires hanging out of it.

Not knowing a whole lot about wiring speakers, would it be possible to
wire all four negative sides of the speaker pairs to a single post, and
use seperate posts for the positive sides of the pairs? Then I could
use an eight gang plate and blank one out (five for speakers, two for
cable/ethernet). I am not about to try this since I don't even have
any equipment to install, just curious if this would fry something.

Thanks!

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello All,

Recently renovated our family room and installed speaker wire to all
four corners for eventual surround sound. I have the levitron speaker
posts/wall plates on the end locations that use one black and one red
post for a speaker wire pair. All four wire pairs go back to a single
gang box that also has one coax and one ethernet cable installed in it.

Planned on using a six-gang levitron wall plate, two for the coax and
ethernet and four for the speaker wire, but seems like each speaker
wire needs two posts, for a total of eight posts. I can't seem to find
a single speaker post that will accept both speaker wires (pos and
neg), and nobody makes a 10 gang wall plate (not enough room).

I was just hoping to find a clean wall plate solution and not leave the
gang box uncovered with wires hanging out of it.

Not knowing a whole lot about wiring speakers, would it be possible to
wire all four negative sides of the speaker pairs to a single post, and
use seperate posts for the positive sides of the pairs? Then I could
use an eight gang plate and blank one out (five for speakers, two for
cable/ethernet). I am not about to try this since I don't even have
any equipment to install, just curious if this would fry something.

You should definitely maintain separate negative connections for the
speakers. Some amplifiers do not use a common negative for speakers.

wrote:
Hello All,

Recently renovated our family room and installed speaker wire to all
four corners for eventual surround sound. I have the levitron speaker
posts/wall plates on the end locations that use one black and one red
post for a speaker wire pair. All four wire pairs go back to a single
gang box that also has one coax and one ethernet cable installed in it.

Planned on using a six-gang levitron wall plate, two for the coax and
ethernet and four for the speaker wire, but seems like each speaker
wire needs two posts, for a total of eight posts. I can't seem to find
a single speaker post that will accept both speaker wires (pos and
neg), and nobody makes a 10 gang wall plate (not enough room).

I was just hoping to find a clean wall plate solution and not leave the
gang box uncovered with wires hanging out of it.

Not knowing a whole lot about wiring speakers, would it be possible to
wire all four negative sides of the speaker pairs to a single post, and
use seperate posts for the positive sides of the pairs? Then I could
use an eight gang plate and blank one out (five for speakers, two for
cable/ethernet). I am not about to try this since I don't even have
any equipment to install, just curious if this would fry something.

Thanks!


Probably possible yes, but it would likely degrade the sound quality.
The surround system may use seperate amplifiers for each channel, and in
any event you would be creating a voltage drop at this merge point that
would also affect your quality.

And furthermore some devices may not like it at all, and nobody uses the
same stereo system for too many years, so it may not like your new system.

Just put up individual plates.

--
Respectfully,


CL Gilbert

Just put up individual plates.

I considered doing that and seperating the coax and ethernet from the
gang box but then I have to cut another hole in the wall in an odd
location. Might have to revisit that.

Thanks

wrote:
Just put up individual plates.


I considered doing that and seperating the coax and ethernet from the
gang box but then I have to cut another hole in the wall in an odd
location. Might have to revisit that.

Thanks


have you considered an audial/visual 'closet'?

--
Respectfully,


CL Gilbert

wrote:
Hello All,

Recently renovated our family room and installed speaker wire to all
four corners for eventual surround sound. I have the levitron speaker
posts/wall plates on the end locations that use one black and one red
post for a speaker wire pair. All four wire pairs go back to a single
gang box that also has one coax and one ethernet cable installed in it.

Planned on using a six-gang levitron wall plate, two for the coax and
ethernet and four for the speaker wire, but seems like each speaker
wire needs two posts, for a total of eight posts. I can't seem to find
a single speaker post that will accept both speaker wires (pos and
neg), and nobody makes a 10 gang wall plate (not enough room).

I was just hoping to find a clean wall plate solution and not leave the
gang box uncovered with wires hanging out of it.

Not knowing a whole lot about wiring speakers, would it be possible to
wire all four negative sides of the speaker pairs to a single post, and
use seperate posts for the positive sides of the pairs? Then I could
use an eight gang plate and blank one out (five for speakers, two for
cable/ethernet). I am not about to try this since I don't even have
any equipment to install, just curious if this would fry something.

Thanks!


Unless I'm missing something, it would seem pretty easy to just drill a
few extra holes in that Leviton plate and screw in the requisite number
of single binding posts.

Even Rat Shack carries several styles, here's one:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...t%5Fid=274-550

And, I'll second and third those folks who've already told you that
"common ("negative side") isn't very common" these days as far as audio
amplifier outputs go. Don't try using them for more than one amplifier
output at the same time.

HTH,

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

In article . com,
wrote:
Hello All,

Recently renovated our family room and installed speaker wire to all
four corners for eventual surround sound. I have the levitron speaker
posts/wall plates on the end locations that use one black and one red
post for a speaker wire pair. All four wire pairs go back to a single
gang box that also has one coax and one ethernet cable installed in it.

Planned on using a six-gang levitron wall plate, two for the coax and
ethernet and four for the speaker wire, but seems like each speaker
wire needs two posts, for a total of eight posts. I can't seem to find
a single speaker post that will accept both speaker wires (pos and
neg), and nobody makes a 10 gang wall plate (not enough room).

I was just hoping to find a clean wall plate solution and not leave the
gang box uncovered with wires hanging out of it.


The ideal solution would be to replace the single gang box, with a 4" square
deep box, or simply a 2 gang telecom mud ring. You don't actually need a
box for speaker/telecom/data/coax. You can get rings that can be cut-in
and mounted directly to the sheetrock.

You are going to run into problems with fitting all those wires in the box,
and putting a plate on, especially the coax.

You could also get a 2 gang wiremold extention box, and mount that over the
existing box, and use a 2 gang plate, which would give you a maximum of
12 spaces for the quickport modules. It looks like you will need 10 spaces
total, 8 speaker (4 pairs), 1 data, 1 coax. The box will stick out from the
wall about 2 inches.

If I were doing this, I would bring the speaker lines in to one 2 gang mudring,
network/telephone into another, and coax into a third. I would run a minimum
of 2 net, 2 tel, and 2 coax, and I might even go as far as 4-6 coax
(antenna, cable, 2 sat, in-house distribution, spare), run to a central
location for patching. Think dual-tuner satellite receivers. Putting 1-1/2"
or 2" conduit in to allow pulling new cables back to your patch area is a
good thing.



Not knowing a whole lot about wiring speakers, would it be possible to
wire all four negative sides of the speaker pairs to a single post, and
use seperate posts for the positive sides of the pairs? Then I could
use an eight gang plate and blank one out (five for speakers, two for
cable/ethernet). I am not about to try this since I don't even have
any equipment to install, just curious if this would fry something.


As previously mentioned, not a good idea. A lot of amplifiers today are
push-pull design, with neither side being grounded. Grounding either side
can kill the amplifier.



Thanks!



--
-- Welcome My Son, Welcome To The Machine --
Bob Vaughan | techie @ tantivy.net |
| P.O. Box 19792, Stanford, Ca 94309 |
-- I am Me, I am only Me, And no one else is Me, What could be simpler? --

The ideal solution would be to replace the single gang box, with a 4" square
deep box, or simply a 2 gang telecom mud ring. You don't actually need a
box for speaker/telecom/data/coax. You can get rings that can be cut-in
and mounted directly to the sheetrock.

That sounds doable, but one side would require an eight port module and
the other side would require the snap in connectors for coax and
ethernet. I never saw any double gang wall plates like that, so I
would be back to square one?

In article .com,
wrote:
The ideal solution would be to replace the single gang box, with a 4" square
deep box, or simply a 2 gang telecom mud ring. You don't actually need a
box for speaker/telecom/data/coax. You can get rings that can be cut-in
and mounted directly to the sheetrock.

That sounds doable, but one side would require an eight port module and
the other side would require the snap in connectors for coax and
ethernet. I never saw any double gang wall plates like that, so I
would be back to square one?


You mentioned Leviton, so I assumed you were looking at the Quickport plates
and modules. They have plates with 12 spaces that you could use. You will end
up with 6 spaces on each side.
I would use the lower 4 spaces on each side for speaker, and the upper 2 spaces
for network and coax, with blanks in the unused holes. something like this:

NETWORK BLANK COAX BLANK
FRONT-LEFT+ FRONT-LEFT- FRONT-RIGHT+ FRONT-RIGHT-
REAR-LEFT+ REAR-LEFT- REAR-RIGHT+ REAR-RIGHT-


http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/C...talogSection=E
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=625
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=626
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=627
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=628
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=629

http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/C...talogSection=F
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=613
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=615
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=616
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=617
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=527
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=528
http://www.leviton-lin.com/catalog/B...uildPageID=620



--
-- Welcome My Son, Welcome To The Machine --
Bob Vaughan | techie @ tantivy.net |
| P.O. Box 19792, Stanford, Ca 94309 |
-- I am Me, I am only Me, And no one else is Me, What could be simpler? --

They have plates with 12 spaces that you could use. You will end
up with 6 spaces on each side.

I think the 12 port is what I need to git'er done. I'm going to
carefully remove the single gang box and install a double gang old work
box.

Thanks!

In article .com,
wrote:
They have plates with 12 spaces that you could use. You will end
up with 6 spaces on each side.

I think the 12 port is what I need to git'er done. I'm going to
carefully remove the single gang box and install a double gang old work
box.

Thanks!


I would seriously consider using a telecom ring, instead of a box.
The main reason being that the bend radius of the coax (especially RG-6)
makes it difficult to install the plates without putting lots of pressure
on the coax. With the modular plates, this can lead to the coax module
popping out of the plate. Using a telecom ring means that you have access
to the entire space within the wall.

Using regular plates helps solve the problem, but now we are back to using
2 plates, which is still an option.

Telecom rings are available in new and old work types, in plastic, or metal,
depending on your preference. There are even versions that have the provision
to anchor the end of a conduit.

If you do use a box, use the deepest one available. Your choice of old work
boxes will be more limited. With regular boxes, you could always install
an oversized 4-11/16 sq box, with 2 gang mudring.

I forgot to ask what type of cable you installed.
Hopefully you made a sane choice, and didn't fall for the Monster snake-oil
hype :-), and installed cat5/cat5e, and quad-shielded RG-6.

Avoid twist-on F connectors at all costs. The Snap-n-seal, or similar types
work best, followed by hex-crimp, and cheap-crimp types. (cheap-crimp is
referring to the cheap short barrel connectors found at radio shack, etc..)

Have fun..


--
-- Welcome My Son, Welcome To The Machine --
Bob Vaughan | techie @ tantivy.net |
| P.O. Box 19792, Stanford, Ca 94309 |
-- I am Me, I am only Me, And no one else is Me, What could be simpler? --

I would seriously consider using a telecom ring, instead of a box.

Are those the orange things in the electrical aisle at HD? G

I have just plain speaker wire off a spool ran through the stud/ceiling
cavities to the far corners of the room, terminated in single gang
boxes with two-port levitron wall plates (red & black screw down
connectors).

I have CAT5 wire and some RG whatever I had lying around from the cable
company kit sent with the high-speed internet service, using hex-crimp
connectors. Just basic stuff is all I need.

Thanks!

In article . com,
wrote:
I would seriously consider using a telecom ring, instead of a box.

Are those the orange things in the electrical aisle at HD? G


Those would be them.. they look like a box, except without the back, and
they are orange so that you can easily tell them apart from the regular
boxes (usually blue).


I have just plain speaker wire off a spool ran through the stud/ceiling
cavities to the far corners of the room, terminated in single gang
boxes with two-port levitron wall plates (red & black screw down
connectors).

like 16 or 14 gauge zipcord? should be fine. 18 is probably ok as well,
but I would not go any smaller then that.


I have CAT5 wire and some RG whatever I had lying around from the cable
company kit sent with the high-speed internet service, using hex-crimp
connectors. Just basic stuff is all I need.

Sounds good.. If the cable company provided it, it is probably RG-6.


Thanks!


No problem.. It sounds like you are well on your way..

If you can, take some before, during, and after photos, and stick them on
a website somewhere, and tell us about it.. It's always good to see the
results..




--
-- Welcome My Son, Welcome To The Machine --
Bob Vaughan | techie @ tantivy.net |
| P.O. Box 19792, Stanford, Ca 94309 |
-- I am Me, I am only Me, And no one else is Me, What could be simpler? --